The remainder of the Twenty20 International series between India and England will be played behind closed doors as coronavirus cases increase again in the host country.
India, who claimed a 3-1 Test series victory earlier this month, drew level with their visitors in the 20-over format with victory in Sunday's second match.
But the final three encounters will go ahead without fans in the stadiums.
Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium is hosting all five matches and welcomed supporters in large numbers for the first two limited-overs meetings.
However, India has seen another rise in positive COVID-19 tests, with over 24,000 new cases reported on Monday.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) subsequently confirmed it had been told of the change in plans, although it added the decision would have no impact on the England team.
"We have just received confirmation that the remaining T20I matches will take place without spectators," the ECB said in a statement released to Stats Perform News.
"We have also seen the statement by the vice-president of the Gujarat Cricket Association confirming the fact.
"Aside from meaning there will be considerably less noise in the stadium, it doesn't materially affect us as we remain in our bubble and, even when crowds were in attendance, we never came into contact with any of them, and the ball was sanitised whenever it was hit into the stands."
South Africa v Netherlands preview: Proteas looking to secure World Cup berth
South Africa will face the Netherlands in two ODIs that could define their entire year, aiming to seal their place at the World Cup.
Following an exciting but disappointing 2-1 defeat against West Indies, the Proteas need to win both matches against the Dutch and hope Ireland lose at least one of their three clashes with Bangladesh in May.
The top eight teams in the World Cup Super League automatically qualify for the World Cup in India, with the bottom five needing to go through further qualifiers with five associate teams.
South Africa sit in 10th place, behind West Indies (eighth) and Sri Lanka (ninth), and ahead of Ireland in 11th, but two victories will take them up to eighth.
Their matches against the Dutch will be the conclusion of a three-match series that was supposed to take place in late 2021, but following no result in the first contest, the second two were postponed due to concerns around a COVID-19 variant.
Now that those matches are due to be played, South Africa find themselves needing to take them seriously and have selected a strong squad accordingly.
Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, David Miller and Aiden Markram are among those to have been made available by Cricket South Africa despite their impending involvement in the IPL.
"We have named our strongest possible squad for these games given the importance of these matches in the context of qualifying for the ICC men's Cricket World Cup," South Africa's white-ball coach Rob Walter said.
"We have a job to do and I am confident that with this group of players, we can get the job done."
The Netherlands bring the same squad that lost 2-1 in Zimbabwe, which included a dramatic one-run victory for the hosts in Harare in the second of their three encounters.
Roelof van der Merwe could feature for the first time since the first match of this series against the nation he used to represent.
Fast bowlers Paul van Meekeren and Fred Klaassen returned against Zimbabwe, but the Dutch will be without Brandon Glover, Bas de Leede and Colin Ackermann due to county commitments.
De Kock looking to emulate Williamson and Warner
Quinton de Kock (5,949) is just 51 runs away from becoming the seventh player to score 6,000 for South Africa in men's ODIs.
Should he do so in the first match against the Netherlands, he will be the joint-third fastest player (139 matches) to reach the landmark in the history of the format with New Zealand's Kane Williamson and Australia's David Warner.
Dutch looking for another rare win
While they sit comfortably bottom of the World Cup Super League, the Netherlands can at least take solace in getting a rare win in their series against Zimbabwe.
Their three-wicket victory on March 21 was the only win of their last 18 men's ODIs (L17).
South Africa fall short of another big run chase as Windies take series
West Indies avoided a repeat of their remarkable, record-breaking defeat in the second T20I against South Africa by clinging on to win the series decider by seven runs.
The Windies had been on the wrong end of a historic run chase in the sides' previous encounter, the highest scoring Twenty20 match since the format was introduced.
But there would be no repeat in Johannesburg on Tuesday, even if Reeza Hendricks again made life difficult for the tourists after another strong Windies score of 220-8.
Hendricks was credited by centurion Quinton de Kock with inspiring the Proteas fightback in the second match, having contributed 68 off just 28 balls.
Missing De Kock's support, it was a one-man effort this time as Hendricks scored 83 off 43, not quite enough with South Africa falling short on 213-6.
West Indies had posted the second-highest T20I total not to include a single fifty but were also themselves grateful for the work of one batter in particular.
In a blockbuster conclusion to the first innings, Romario Shepherd had scored 26 from the final over to top-score with 44 from only 22 balls – the knock that ultimately proved the difference.
Phenomenal finish sees Windies safe
South Africa handed the ball to Kagiso Rabada with some confidence ahead of the 20th over, with the bowling superstar having restricted the Windies to 2-24 from his previous three overs.
Yet Shepherd, twice put down by De Kock, smashed Rabada all around the ground to set a daunting target. As a result, the Proteas needed to match Shepherd with 26 off the last but could only manage 18.
Repeat proves beyond Proteas
While Hendricks remained in the middle, it appeared very possible South Africa would pull off another stunning recovery. It would have been a record-breaking fifth successful 200-run chase in the format.
However, West Indies kept their nerve, crucially having Hendricks caught by captain Rovman Powell at long on in the 19th over. The Windies still have not lost a T20I series in South Africa, with two wins and a draw.
"It allowed me to do some soul-searching"- Charles sees focusing on the basics as key to T20I re-emergence after six-year hiatus
South Africa and the West Indies played one of the most amazing games of cricket you will ever see at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday.
In the second of three T20Is, the two teams combined for a record 517 runs including 81 boundaries and 35 sixes as the hosts needed just 18.5 overs to chase down a mammoth 258 set by the West Indies.
The catalyst behind the West Indies’ massive total was an innings from top-order batsman Johnson Charles that can only be described as special.
The 34-year-old right-hander, batting at number three, eclipsed Chris Gayle’s record for fastest T20I hundred for the West Indies, 47 balls against England at the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup, when he brought up his maiden T20I century off just 39 balls.
Charles eventually made 118 off 46 balls including 10 fours and 11 sixes. He said the key to his innings was understanding the conditions.
“You know as a batsman, with such a good pitch and such a small ground, that you don’t have to over-hit the ball. I think that was one of the key points that all the batsmen had in the back of their minds,” he said in a press conference after the game.
This continues a remarkable career resurgence for the St. Lucian, who was a member of the victorious West Indian sides at the 2012 and 2016 ICC T20 World Cups.
After representing the regional side in a three-match T20I series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2016, Charles was dropped, with many writing him off completely.
“I think being out of the T20 side for six years definitely allowed me to do some soul searching and see where I’ve been going wrong,” Charles said.
After six years on the outside looking in, Charles finally got a second chance to don the West Indian colors when he was, surprisingly to many, selected for the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia after an excellent 2022 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) which saw him finish as the third-highest run-scorer with 345 runs in nine innings, including four fifties.
Charles played two games at the World Cup and recorded scores of 45 and 22 against Zimbabwe and Ireland, respectively.
Earlier this year, he played an integral role in leading the Comilla Victorians to their fourth Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) title, making 308 runs in nine innings, including a century and a fifty.
“I’ve gone back to the basics,” was Charles’ response to questions about how he has revived his batting.
“I made sure I have those down pat. Just coming back, it’s worked for me and, going forward, I’m just going to have to make sure that I keep focusing on the basics. If I continue doing that then I’ll keep on having great innings,” Charles added.
Hopefully, Charles can continue this form when the West indies take on the South Africans in the decisive third T20I at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
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